AgriTalk After The Bell: “They’re Getting Started.”

When AgriTalk After the Bell Host Chip Flory asked Phil Conradt from Tredas, LLC, Lincoln, Nebraska, what his clients were doing today, he explained, “They’re getting started. Some corn and soybeans went in the ground leading up to some light rain on Tuesday and today they’re getting back into the field.” Planting date and the importance of getting corn planted into the right conditions to spur even (and early) emergence is a well-known first step in building corn yields. And while late plantings don’t erase the potential for trendline or higher corn yields, the later a crop is planted, the harder it must work for the rest of the growing season to hit trendline.

“The planting progress update we get on May 7 will be really important to the corn trade,” said Conradt. “If we’re still double-digit behind the average pace, that should open some upside price potential. But, we can’t rule out the idea that corn futures have already accounted for a slow-planting season. I mean, if you would of told me that December corn futures would be at $4.10 or better back in January, I’d have said you were full of ‘it.’” For now, Conradt suggests corn and soybean growers take a hard look at profit potential at current corn and soybean prices. “If these prices work for you, why wouldn’t you take advantage of them with ‘some’ new-crop sales?”